From what may be said about Madame de Staël’s Corinne, or Italy, one recurring theme is the notion of transcendence, of exercising the powers of the imagination by dilating upon natural scenery, of becoming open to our “natural” inclinations to experience sensations of wonder and the sublime, of experiencing a harmony between mind and bodily sensations. According to de Staël, our inclinations to experience the sublime are restricted by prescriptive cultural standards that seek to produce and maintain national identity and coherence, perhaps best captured by the young Corinne where the “threat” of foreign influence, or the “threat” to a family’s or one’s reputation, must be repressed and conditioned. In relation to the broader themes of Romanticism, one may see the novel and its themes as a site of plenitude from which many authors—specifically the Lake School poets—draw for creative import, especially the roles of the individual and the powers of the imagination. Admittedly, this line of reasoning tends to limit the interpretive scope in an effort to identify concurrences amongst authors during this turbulent time, but it also provides a springboard for meaning-making processes in respect to how authors—(among others) William Blake & William Wordsworth—discuss and embed themes of the redemptive roles and moral obligations of artists in processes of artistic creation, to direct readers to access knowledge in unprecedented ways through the power of the imagination. This was a radical revision of the poet’s role, and we may locate this revisioning as coming from Madame de Staël’s representation of the character Corinne.
Corinne expresses in various instances the belief that one must be willingly open to experience the sublime in nature, and this claim bears much fruit in two ways: 1) that reason-based perspectives supplement imagination and affect; and 2) that elevated and sustained thought rely on one’s immersion in nature, not an urban metropolis (also found in Wordsworth’s poetry). Both of these deductions are captured by de Staël when she writes, “But what is contradictory is always man’s creation. Such as God has given it to us, the mystery is beyond the mind’s comprehension but not in opposition to it” (181). Here, we may deduce Neoplatonic themes in that de Staël posits how the divine may not be fully comprehended by mankind, but that we are not completely restricted from accessing knowledge of it. In terms of what is “contradictory,” this may be understood in many ways, but it is safe to direct our attention to religion and how de Staël represents it within this scene and, more generally, within the novel as a whole. As many Romantics critique the confining nature of religion, that it inspires ascetic behavior and limits one’s use of the imagination and, thus, free creation, de Staël seems to be the conscientious objector.
When the representation of religious orthodoxy is pitted against poetry and performance within Corinne, it is unequivocal that Corinne’s poetry and art inspires more enthusiasm while the customs and rituals of the Roman Catholic Church are subtly critiqued by their implicit and fanatic dogmatism. For example, Catholicism is represented as mimetic: “When the preacher falls on his knees, crying mercy and pity! the surrounding populace also fall on their knees and repeat the same cry” (171). Withholding many other representations of mechanistic ritual, Corinne’s improvised performances tend to rely on affective sensations that induce high speculation and wonder in a way that illustrates to what religious leaders aspired. This should not be mistaken as none other than a subtle, conscientious way to critique and construct a hierarchy (because we cannot forget that Corinne defends the Roman Catholic faith), that many Romantic poets constructed an ideology that positioned themselves as superseding religious leaders and philosophers during this time period. Many Romantics working from this ideology felt it was their duty to awaken their audience’s imaginations, for the imagination was lauded as the interdependent medium for progressive social change.
Corinne expresses in various instances the belief that one must be willingly open to experience the sublime in nature, and this claim bears much fruit in two ways: 1) that reason-based perspectives supplement imagination and affect; and 2) that elevated and sustained thought rely on one’s immersion in nature, not an urban metropolis (also found in Wordsworth’s poetry). Both of these deductions are captured by de Staël when she writes, “But what is contradictory is always man’s creation. Such as God has given it to us, the mystery is beyond the mind’s comprehension but not in opposition to it” (181). Here, we may deduce Neoplatonic themes in that de Staël posits how the divine may not be fully comprehended by mankind, but that we are not completely restricted from accessing knowledge of it. In terms of what is “contradictory,” this may be understood in many ways, but it is safe to direct our attention to religion and how de Staël represents it within this scene and, more generally, within the novel as a whole. As many Romantics critique the confining nature of religion, that it inspires ascetic behavior and limits one’s use of the imagination and, thus, free creation, de Staël seems to be the conscientious objector.
When the representation of religious orthodoxy is pitted against poetry and performance within Corinne, it is unequivocal that Corinne’s poetry and art inspires more enthusiasm while the customs and rituals of the Roman Catholic Church are subtly critiqued by their implicit and fanatic dogmatism. For example, Catholicism is represented as mimetic: “When the preacher falls on his knees, crying mercy and pity! the surrounding populace also fall on their knees and repeat the same cry” (171). Withholding many other representations of mechanistic ritual, Corinne’s improvised performances tend to rely on affective sensations that induce high speculation and wonder in a way that illustrates to what religious leaders aspired. This should not be mistaken as none other than a subtle, conscientious way to critique and construct a hierarchy (because we cannot forget that Corinne defends the Roman Catholic faith), that many Romantic poets constructed an ideology that positioned themselves as superseding religious leaders and philosophers during this time period. Many Romantics working from this ideology felt it was their duty to awaken their audience’s imaginations, for the imagination was lauded as the interdependent medium for progressive social change.